Maria Kealy included in Irish U18 basketball squad

Letterkenny woman Maria Kealy has been selected as part of the next phase of the Irish under-18 basketball panel.

Head coach Tommy O'Mahony has picked 16 players.

Kealy, who plays for LYIT Donegal and Letterkenny Blaze, has been previously capped at the FIBA U18 European Challengers.

The Loreto Secondary School student plays as a point guard.

Kealy captained Loreto to glory in the All-Ireland School League Junior A final in 2019. In a thriller, Loreto overcame Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal from Blarney 49-42.

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In 2020, Kealy was one of the Irish representatives for the FIBA U17 Women’s Skills Challenge.

O'Mahony; said “The squad have been putting in some tremendous work over the last few months to reach this stage and we are happy with the current squad and we feel that there will be a lot of tough decisions to make over the next few months.

“We head to Wales in April for games against England, Scotland and Wales, which should provide a lot of players with their first taste of the international game.

“We understand we have a lot of work to do and are eager to step up our preparation for our Euros in Austria this August."